No Sport Please, We’re Italian

One in two Italians takes too little exercise. Maltese, British and Japanese even less active. Expert says: “We need to start motivating young people at school to take exercise”

No Sport Please, We’re Italian

One in two Italians takes too little exercise. Maltese, British and Japanese even less active. Expert says: “We need to start motivating young people at school to take exercise”

Italians are champions, but in the laziness stakes. The claim is made by a group of researchers, led by Pedro C. Hallal from the University of Pelotas in Brazil, in a study published in The Lancet, the bible of medical journals. Professor Hallal and his team compared data for physical activity levels in adults aged 15 and over in 122 countries, representing 89% of the world’s population, to produce an inactivity index. The results show that Malta tops the laziness league while Italy is tucked comfortably into the top twenty in 17th place with an index of 54.7%, against a world average of 31.1%. Italy’s dominance is even clearer within the EU. In a lazy Europe, couch potato Italy is outclassed only by world wooden spoon-holder Malta, Cyprus, Serbia and the UK. Italian women are less active than men (59.8% vs 49.6%). The national average falls far short of Greece’s 15.6% but is not so distant from the USA’s 40.5% or Japan’s 60%.

Are Italians really such layabouts? In 2011, ISTAT, the national statistics institute, counted 23.3 million inactive Italians, or 39.8% of the population. But there’s more to it. Cardiologist and sports doctor Gabriele Rosa, director of Brescia’s Marathon Sport Center where long-distance runners train, says: “To understand how athletic a country is, you need to take into account indirect indicators of physical inactivity: the proportion of overweight and obese adults and children, or diabetics, of whom there are almost four million in Italy. That’s about 6% of the population. And the number is rising”. Dr Rosa says that Italians acquire lazy habits from a young age. “What’s missing in Italy is sports education. There’s very little at school and when students get to university, they don’t have the facilities you find on, say, American campuses. The problem is systemic. People repeat the mantra that physical activity does you good but nobody teaches you how to do it”.

According to Professor Hallal’s research group, physical activity means 30 minutes of moderately intense activity five times a week, or 20 minutes of vigorous activity three times a week, or a combination of the two. Physiologist Andrea Macaluso from the Foro Italico University in Rome explains that the parameters reflect the guidelines of the American College of Sports Medicine and qualify those who adhere to them as “physically active”: “Moderately intense physical activity three times a week is good for anyone”, says Dr Macaluso.

But that is precisely what Italians don’t do. Matteo Simone, a sports psychotherapist and psychologist, adds: “Laziness is more evident in younger people than in the 30-50 age group. Over-30s take up sport as a social aggregation factor or on doctor’s advice”. In contrast, young people lack the motivation, and the facilities. Salvo Russo, a sports psychiatrist and psychologist, notes: “More in the south than in the north. Italy is split in two on this, as in other things. Unless physical education is one of the subjects that contribute to overall school marks, families will always regard it as an extra and not a primary activity that they make their children do”. It’s not easy to set things straight. Matteo Simone says: “We need to focus on projects that stimulate the kids’ interest”. What about adults? “Make it easier to play sports, for example at the workplace. If I cycle to work, it might be nice to be able to take a shower when I get there”. But will this be enough to turn lazy Italians into sportsmen and women? “If nothing else, it will make us more productive at work.”